Faction: The Crown of Tassia

Crest of the House of Brand
Royal Family of Tassia
sable a water wheel argent, per bend azure
a castle of three towers argent

Tassia was once ground zero for the goblin wars. Much of the nation is covered in sprawling, dark forests deciduous forests. Most of the settlements are built along wide, slow Rivers that ru to the sea in the north. The capital, Varnic, is a mighty fortress city built on the mountain pass that serves as the easiest road in and out of the nation from the South, and the head of the mightiest of those rivers.

In the High Age, Tassia's forests were once full of elves and fairy folk, just as the mountains that form the boundaries of Tassia once had several mighty dwarf strongholds that paid tribute to the human Kings of Tassia.

Humanity carved out vast farmlands along the river banks, and cleared roadways to several lakes and mountain passes The people made offerings of gold, friendship, and occasionally of servants chosen by lottery to keep in good relationships with the elves. Several of the most potent fae creatures in the woodland were worshiped as lesser gods, and offered their own sacrifices.

The darkest, most tangled parts of the wood were prime breeding grounds for the goblin folk and other wicked creatures. More often than not, when the goblins grew in large numbers, the elves would cut them down before they became a problem. Humanity rarely had to deal with that threat. A service worth the odd comely maiden and coffer of gold.

Every few centuries, however, there would be a surge of goblins. Some powerful warlord would unite several of the scattered clans and build up a force in secret, avoiding elvish eyes. They would erupt from the dark heart of the woodlands spreading across Tassia and boiling up from the Underground beneath its neighbors. engaging in slaughter and slave-taking.

At least until they could be put down by the mustered force of humans, elves, and dwarfs.

It was Tassia where the Fourth Goblin War hit the hardest, and it was a Tassian and prince who was tortured to death before the High Elven Court by Stormbringer. It was Tassian assassins who put the mad elf-king down, and a Tassian peasant militia who formed the first legion of Crusaders to fight back when the first orgy of elf-on-human violence nearly destroyed the country.

While it was the first battleground the conflicts that shaped the modern age, the bloodshed in its borders was so severe, that it was left behind in the brief golden age that followed. Tassia's population had been so devastated by the Goblin War and the Crusade that many of its wilderness towns were left in ruins. The survivors fled to cities that did not have enough food to feed them. Plagues, fires, and civil unrest have repeatedly battered the interior of the nation. Now most of it is empty wastes.

Tassia seaports have fared much better than the interior. So much better, in fact, now the Crown of Tassia bleeds the ports dry with excessive taxes and tariffs. Most of which go to maintain cities no longer important to either the defense or trade. The local guilds and nobles have been feeding separatists for years in hopes of breaking the yoke of King Brand IV. The last time a city actually tried to secede, however, the sheer manpower and military might of Varnic forced their return.

Today, the Crown keeps a tight rein on the Northern Counties, with garrisons in every city commanded by loyal Varnian Officers, while the local magnates conspire to break Brand's hold.